Pronunciamiento

“ We consult the dictionary only when we wish to know the meaning of a word, or its pronunciation, but there are numberless other facts in the volume that are more interesting, if not more valuable, than the definitions and marks of pronunciation. ”

“ It may be observed too, that when the verb ends in a liquid, or a liquid and mute e, the participle d always preserves its pure sound; as blamed, joined, filled, barred, pronounced blam'd, join'd, fill'd, barr'd. This contraction of the participial ed, and the verbal en, (103) is so fixed an idiom of our pronunciation, that to alter it, would be to alter the sound of the whole language. ”

“ I have not followed the ancient custom of treating each part of speech by itself, but have taken up each modification in succession, a plan which seems to me preferable, at least in a language without irregularities. ”

“ There are frequent instances where a particular division of a word will aid the reader in its pronunciation at first sight, obviating a faltering or repetition, as pro-gress, verb, and prog-ress, noun ”

“ It can scarcely be supposed that the most experienced speaker has heard every word in the language, and the whole circle of sciences pronounced exactly as it ought to be; and if this be the case, he must sometimes have recourse to the principles of pronunciation when his ear is either uninformed or unfaithful. ”

“ The organs of pronunciation require a perfect new modelling, and perhaps not the least difficulty is to prevent one’s heart from sinking at the little apparent progress made in understanding, and being understood, out of the common routine of daily life: the feeling will often arise, Surely I never shall learn. ”

“ Our method tries to employ many means which mutually support each other. The pronunciation is not learned merely by the teacher’s saying the word and the pupils repeating it, or by the pupil’s guessing at it through the orthography and the teacher’s correcting him. ”

“ I would be conservative about pronunciation,—the test of good-breeding,—and would leave idioms to the grace of God, where they properly belong. Boys and blackguards have always been my masters in language. ”

“ To know the right word in the right place, to know its correct pronunciation and spelling, there is nothing more valuable than a good standard dictionary. If you haven't one—a new revised edition—get one right away. ”

“ A full and open pronunciation of the long vowel sounds, a clear articulation of the consonants, a forcible and well-placed accent, and a distinct utterance of the unaccented syllables, distinguish the elegant speaker. ”

“ The persons whose speech is studied pronounce it with minute shades of difference, and admit other differences according as they are conversing naturally or endeavoring to exhibit their pronunciation. ”

“ The fact is, that in spite of many cognate words and constractions, each member of the group has peculiarities of pronunciation and vocabulary which distinguish it often very strikingly from the rest. ”

“ Your speech is simple, my Master, but not theirs who talk of you. ”

“ With equal reason it might be said that inasmuch as good speakers, and even lexicographers, differ in the pronunciation of words, therefore each speaker should make his own taste and judgment the standard for correct pronunciation. ”

“ When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practised man relies on the language of the first. ”

“ Only then can he pronounce an unfamiliar English word with any assurance of propriety.
Notwithstanding the fact that every educated man has his favorite dictionary, it is probably true that no man’s pronunciation is in entire accord with the dictionary he habitually follows. ”

“ It may be worth remarking that while there are many negative nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and conjunctions in oar language, negation is more frequently expressed in English by the adverb than by any other part of speech—than by all other parts of speech. ”

“ In Which the Common Improprieties in Reading and Speaking Are Detected, and the True Sources of Elegant Pronunciation Are Pointed Out. With a Complete Analysis of the Voice, Showing Its Specific Modification, and How They May Be Applied to Different Species of Sentences, and the Several Figures of Rhetoric. ”

“ There is no better way to cultivate a perfect pronunciation; apart from association with cultivated people, than by getting a small pronouncing dictionary of words in ordinary use, and reading it word by word, marking and studying any that you use frequently and mispronounce. ”

“ And what living man, if he had unlimited control over all the nerves supplying the mouth and larynx of another person, could make him pronounce a sentence? Yet, if one has anything to say, what is easier than to say it? We desire the utterance of certain words: we touch the spring of the word-machine, and they are spoken. ”

“ And when you have experienced this warcry 'what? what?' oftener than you like, you will raise the standard of your pronunciation (just [pg 40] as you would raise your voice to a deaf listener) merely to save yourself trouble, even though you were insensible to the shame of the affront.
In asseveration.
And this more careful articulation obtains also in all asseveration. A speaker who wishes to provoke attention to any particular statement or sentiment will speak the words by which he would convey it more slowly and with more careful articulation than the rest of his utterance. ”

“ If the word used signifies
has been done, or is being done, or is, or is to be done, then that word
is a verb.
Thus when we say that anything is "an in'sult," that word is a noun, and
is accented all the first syllable; but when we say he did it "to
insult' another person," that word insult' implies acting, and becomes a
verb, and should be accented on the last syllable. ”

“ This vulgar pronunciation which was a thorn in the flesh to the eighteenth century lexicographers, it is instructive to note in passing, was not the result of mere caprice, but was warranted by an old variant spelling of the word. ”

“ Our written words are thickly sown with silent letters, which, as every one knows, are relics of former modes of pronunciation, once necessary constituents of spoken language, but gradually dropped, because it was easier to do without them. ”

“ Frequent drill on pronunciation and articulation before or after the reading lesson will be found profitable in teaching the proper pronunciation of new words and in overcoming faulty habits of speech. ”

“ Inflections of voice are so natural that to some nations it has appeared easier to express different ideas by varying the tones in which they pronounce the same word than to contrive words for all of their ideas. ”

“ Many a word which we meet in the dialects in some unfamiliar shape, can be shown to be no mere vulgar mispronunciation or misspelling, but a genuine old form, once under distinguished patronage in our earlier literature. ”

“ It is observed by critics, that all words or sentences, which are difficult to the pronunciation, are disagreeable to the ear. There is no difference, whether a man hear them pronounced, or read them silently to himself. ”

“ In every language grammatical correctness is obligatory. Here we see a distinction between mere conversation, which is loose, fragmentary and often, even in the lips of highly educated persons, slightly ungrammatical; and prose, which is bound to weed away whatever is slovenly and incorrect, and to watch very closely lest merely colloquial expressions, which cannot be defended, should slip into careful speech. ”

“ And if the latter interpretation be adopted, must we say that and is a preposition, not a conjunction, or must we modify the definitions of these two parts of speech?"
The following definitions are finally proposed in place of the ordinary ones:
"A preposition is a part of speech annexed to a noun or verb in a proposition, and serving to connect it with a noun or pronoun by which it is limited, as the subject or predicate of that proposition." ”

“ And this, as we have seen, we always do in speaking; for it is to the more important words that we naturally desire to draw the special attention of the person or persons whom we address, and not to the ancillary or subordinate words.
“It may also be observed that Pronouns, though important parts of speech, should be classed, with regard to their pronunciation in a sentence, with the less important words, as Articles, Prepositions, and Conjunctions. ”

“ If we observe the tendency of pronunciation, with respect to inseparable prepositions, we shall find, that those compound words which we adopt whole from other languages, we consider as simples, and pronounce them without any respect to their component parts ”

“ Pronunciation, and the proper way of representing it in spelling, and the ways in which it has been represented at various periods—these are subjects which demand long and severe study before one has a right even to state facts. ”

“ In order to acquire a forcible manner of pronouncing words, let the pupils inure themselves, while reading, to draw in as much air as their lungs can contain with ease, and to expel it with vehemence in uttering those sounds which require an emphatical pronunciation, and read aloud with all the exertion they can command ”

“ Each word is English, but the sentence is far from being so. This great contrast is the result of a combination of causes, and it may be resolved into four chief13 movements which have slowly operated during the long interval.
A change has taken place in the collocation of words in forming a sentence. The governed pronoun stands in a place where it is now inadmissible: the present habit of the language requires that the pronoun ‘me’ should come in after its governing verb. ”

“ In a language which provides for the distinctions of person by particles prefixed or suffixed to the verb, it will scarcely be expected, that separate and independent relative pronouns should exist, or if such are to be found, their use, as separate parts of speech, must, it will have been anticipated, be quite limited—limited to simple interrogatory forms of expression, and not applicable to the indicative, or declaratory. ”

“ Here a genuine difference in sound conveyed to the ear was represented to the eye by a difference of orthography. The modern speech has made one of its usual compromises. It has retained the spelling of the one form and the pronunciation of the other. ”

“ FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronouns I and thou, of the nominative case, are here put in apposition with the preceding pronoun us, which is objective. But, according to Rule 3d, "A noun or a personal pronoun, used to explain a preceding noun or pronoun, is put, by apposition, in the same case." Therefore, I and thou should be thee and me; (the first person, in our idiom, being usually put last;) ”

“ Authors who have studied in their own persons the pronunciation of the vowels and consonants describe with great minuteness the positions assumed by the lips, the tongue, the soft palate, under all circumstances, and give drawings which show the various operations we perform while articulating letters and syllables. ”

“ When the tongue is well controlled and wisely subdued; when selfish impulses and unworthy thoughts no longer rush to the tongue demanding utterance; when the speech has become harmless, pure, gentle, gracious, and purposeful, and no word is uttered but in sincerity and truth,—then are the five steps in virtuous speech accomplished, then is the second great lesson in Truth learned and mastered. ”

“ We have all the while a sort of conception of an average pronunciation, of a normal degree of opening or of protrusion, which we aim at, but it is nothing very fixed, and the only measure at our disposal is that we are or are not understood. ”

“ In the subjoined examples the noun ow, body, is changed to a verb, by [Pg 281] the permutation of the vowel, changing ow to auw, which last takes the letter d before it, when the pronoun is prefixed.
In the translation of these expressions "man" is used as synonymous with person. ”

“ With the spread of education there go along those habits of speech which are generally recognized to be in accord with best usage and which therefore have most to commend them to popular favor. But till men cease to exercise the right of choice in the mode of utterance, till men prefer, for the sake of uniformity, to say exclusively “hóstǐle” and not “hostĩle,” “sérvǐle” and not “servle,” “rise” and not “rice,” to mention an example of variant usage, so long will there probably be a diversity of pronunciation and the consequent need for the pronouncing [Pg 55] dictionary. ”

“ Let us not attempt to foster extravagant niceties of speech, but let us cultivate in ourselves and our pupils an appreciation of, and a desire for, pure, substantial, and impressively spoken English, showing them that the real beauty of our language lies in its simplicity and its inherent, convincing power.
Exercises in Enunciation and Pronunciation
Take up the exercises below in the following manner: First, discover the correct position of tongue, lips and jaw for producing the particular sound under consideration. Second, repeat the sound many times. ”